The new eclectic season starts at 3.30pm on Thursday, 11 April, and it is hoped that many club members, new and old, will take part. Traditionally, this is one of the best supported competitions in the club calendar, with more than 150 members playing over the 23 weeks between April and September. The main body of members who play are businessmen who have few, if any, opportunities to play golf during the week. The eclectic further offers a regular game during the summer for five-day members and gives restricted seven-day members added flexibility in deciding when to play. However, above all, it is totally inclusive and open to all members irrespective of playing status, handicap or age.

For new members it presents an easy way to get to know a wide cross-section of the club membership. That is why we are ensuring that all men who joined the club in the last three years are invited to play and made welcome by the more seasoned eclectic enthusiasts.

The aim should be to play with as many people as possible throughout the competition and not arrange to have a round with the same group of friends, week in week out. The Siamese Twins syndrome is not encouraged! After each Thursday’s game players can enjoy a choice of inexpensive meals and sandwiches over a drink or two with their partners.

For any new member not familiar with the eclectic format a full explanation of the arrangements will be posted on the notice board near the men’s changing room. Each week every player’s best score on each hole is recorded and his progress in achieving the lowest possible eclectic net is displayed on score sheets. The lowest net achieved to date is 44, a record jointly held by Tony Lewis (in the last century) and Julian Lappert (in 2005). The defending champion is Nigel Weekes.

The competition closes in mid-September with a dinner for all participants (free for the top seven contenders) at which prizes in several categories are presented including that won by the overall eclectic champion. The Barron Cup competition for five-day members and restricted seven-day members is also played on the final eclectic day and is open to all club members in these categories.

Last year support for the Barron Cup and the eclectic dinner was down on previous years, so thought is being given to holding these and the final eclectic round on Thursday, 13 September, and not over two days as in previous years.

This year’s eclectic will be run by David Talbot, with back-up from Peter Chisholm and Barry Plews. We all look forward to seeing a wide cross-section of the club competing, but especially our newer members.

Whether you tee off only once or every week, you can be sure of an enjoyable evening playing in this unique competition. So why not give it a try and make Thursday afternoon/evenings a regular diary date?

Barry Plews
Assistant organiser

By the time you read this, the club will have welcomed a third member to our professional team. Matthew Masters comes to PPGC well equipped for his principal role, which is to teach. Helped by his impressive pedigree, he was selected by our professional David Gleeson from 15 other applicants for the job.

A fully qualified Class A professional, Matthew began his golfing career as a junior assistant at Ashridge, later moving as a senior assistant to Brocket Hall. He joins us from Lamerwood, where he was the club professional.

Although he will spend most of his time helping golfers improve their game, one day a week he will help fellow assistant Peter Crawford, whose main role will be to look after the shop.
Away from the practice ground, Matthew, a married 35-year-old father of one, hopes to have plenty of opportunity to play with members on the course and with David in alliances.

He says:  “Porters Park is well known throughout the county as a good club with a fantastic course. I am delighted to have been appointed and I am looking forward to the opportunities that await me.”

David says: “I am sure Matthew is the right man for the job. It will be great to be double-handed at group teaching sessions. He will do much to help us achieve our aim, which is to make Porters a centre of teaching excellence.”

The new season is nearly upon us and we are expecting to bounce straight back into the top division, writes Geoff Kirby.

Last year we were unfortunately victims of our own success, losing county champion Nick Pateman and our other Herts Colts stars to re-arranged county games. On several occasions I would have a strong eight at the start of the week only to be left by Wednesday or Thursday with just two or three. My thanks again to all who filled in at the last minute.

Already this year we have played two away friendlies against Brocket Hall and Old Fold Manor, and in the Mail On Sunday Champion Club we have beaten Finchley and face Verulam away next round.

Thank you to Dennis Bozier Ltd. for their support as sponsors over the last two years.

We are looking for new main sponsor or sponsors this season, preferably from Porters Park as our previous sponsors are members at Mill Green.

We look forward to your support this season.

The course is drying out at long last after all the wet weather over the winter.

The earlier spring-like conditions have allowed us to apply a heavy top-dressing to both greens and aprons to smooth out the surfaces. This treatment will be repeated after deep-scarifying and over-seeding in April.

The staff are currently topping up sand in all greenside bunkers and this will be completed early April.

The coloured flags on the pins now indicate the hole positions: red for front, yellow for middle, and blue for back.

 large area of the 8th practice ground has now been roped off. This will become the 6th hole while the 6th green is under reconstruction.

Two winter greens have been marked out on the 16th. The position of these greens will allow us to re-drain the lowest level of the 16th fairway once the green and apron have been re-laid this autumn.

Martin Smith
Course Manager

Delays to Saturday morning play have all too often been associated with the half-way stop for bacon rolls. Hopefully, no longer. The service has now been speeded by the provision of a new stand just inside the lounge from which rolls – not just of the bacon variety but now of sausage, too – will be dispensed hot from the kitchen and without the need to order earlier.

Queuing for that mid-morning snack should be a thing of the past and the former stop-start routine should be replaced by a smooth procession of players from the 1st tee.

*If you would like to see changes to the everyday food menu, you are invited to say so via suggestions cards available at the ordering point in the Palm Court. There are also comments cards for use by members/visitors attending functions.

*It has been agreed that from the beginning of summertime the weekend afternoon swindle for ladies will start at 12 noon and the men will tee off at 12.30pm.

The men’s Foxes and Social Golf programmes start in April with matches throughout the summer open to all male members, writes Roger Morgan.

Fixture details are posted in the men’s locker room, and you are encouraged to put your name down for as many matches as you wish. I look forward to seeing you representing your club.

Mixed Social matches also tee off next month with an away fixture on April 22 at Brickendon Grange, writes Jan Kilsby. The following week there is an away match at East Herts. The sheets to sign if you would like to play are in the Palm Court, along with the dates for all the matches.

Everyone is welcome. The aim is to have an enjoyable afternoon’s golf and evening meal. If as a team we manage to win, so much the better. If you’d like to play or would like more information, please email me – janetkilsby@btconnect.com

Several members have drawn attention to the awkwardness of using the club swipe card to gain entrance to the clubhouse and exit from car park, especially when it is dark. Members at other clubs have it so much easier, they say, with no need to wind down the car window or re-position the car, or even get out because the car is just too far away to reach the slot.

The easy answer is to switch to the proximity card: all you need to do is wave it in the right direction and your command will be recognized and obeyed.

The downside, of course, is that such cards cost money. Would you be prepared to pay, say, up to a tenner for the convenience?

If you have views on this subject, Managing Secretary Peter Marshall will be pleased to receive them, either via email to peter@porterspark.com or in a written note.

You are never too young to start golf. The evidence should be apparent on the practice ground at Porters Park at 10.30am on Sunday, 1 April, when we are holding the year’s first pre-junior session for boys and girls aged 3-10 years.

This will be followed on Sunday, 13 May, from 10am to 12 noon, with a girls-only morning for those aged 5-18 years, the aim being to encourage more girls to take up the game.

There is no need to bring clubs – we have some nice pink ones waiting for you! – but by all means bring a friend. As for clothes, just wear something comfortable. This really is the ideal opportunity to see if golf is for you and to meet other girls and have some fun.

Thanks to Colin Mansell, a forum for junior members has been set up on the club website for you to use.  If you let me have your email address, I will send you the details. You can contact me at gerrigutentag@yahoo.co.uk

Junior competitions dates are all in the club diary. Have a good golfing season.

-*Congratulations to 13-year-old Callum Shinkwin on his selection for the under-16s county team.

Gerri Warnes

Following its successful introduction last year, the Ladies’ Academy is once again in full swing. Twenty-one new recruits signed up for the first session on March 24 and are now well into their lessons.

There is another academy on Saturday, June 2, at 2pm – see the notice in the Palm Court. If you have friends or relatives who fancy giving golf a go, this is the ideal opportunity.

We celebrated St. Valentine’s Night with a romantic Italian dinner especially prepared by our Italian chef Timoteo Mcreassi and served beautifully by Flora and her signorinas. 

Amore entertainment was provided by Kevin and Cynthia Odonelli, with a guest appearance on the timpani by Giovanni Maggio.

Our thanks as always to the bar staff without whom no evening would be complete.

Coming shortly:
Good Friday, April 7: Fish supper.
Friday, May 18: The Greek Night originally planned for this date has been postponed as it clashes with a large society. A new date will be announced shortly.
Saturday, June 23: Midsummer Ball, the not-to-be-missed climax to Captain’s Day. Dance the evening and part of the night away to Soul Fish. Tickets are on sale and already 170 have been snapped up. Make up your table of 10, though this can be as many as 12 if you book early enough.

Temporary Greens. Work is scheduled to start on the 6th and 16th greens during the first week in September and last approximately six weeks. Martin Smith and his team have already begun preparing temporary greens to a high specification. 

The temporary 6th green will be played out of order. Players will complete the 5th hole and walk straight to the 7th tee. When they have completed the 8th hole, they will walk through the trees to the practice tee and play the “6th” from a proper tee being constructed there.

The temporary green is being reshaped and the bunker is being brought up to scratch. A range of other locations for the temporary green was considered but each failed on safety or aesthetic grounds.

Unfortunately, at the 16th hole, it has not been possible to construct a temporary green down at the bottom of the hill. Not only is there considerable work to be done by the contractors in front of the 16th  green but, once the contractors have left, our greens staff have drainage work to do in the dip. Members will have noticed the very large pools of water which gathered in the dip during the winter. Accordingly, the temporary green will be positioned short of the hill at a spot where the grasses most closely match those on the greens.

As more than 100 yards will have been forfeited on the 16th, it is regretted that all winter competitions will be non-qualifying. The new greens are scheduled to be back in play from the beginning of May.

A report will appear in the next edition of Tee Times on the response from our advisers, Neil Coles & Associates, to questions raised on behalf of members regarding the proposed bunker at the 16th and the tee locations at the 17th.  

Tree Planting. Members will have noticed that a significant number of new trees have been planted, and there are more to follow. The programme was delayed by the excessively wet conditions. We will continue with our policy to plant many more trees than we fell.

he Borehole. We have, regrettably, received a further disappointing report from the company applying for the extraction licence on our behalf. Last year, we were asked by the Environment Agency (EA) to undertake more tests. These were completed, with a satisfactory outcome. The EA has now asked for yet more tests, spanning 3 to 6 months. We have no option other than to incur this modest extra expenditure and remain patient.

In the meantime, we are permitted to draw moderate amounts of water while the tests continue. We will keep members fully informed of any developments.

The Winter Programme. This is substantially complete in spite of the endless rain, the snow and the gales. Martin Smith and his team have worked wonders on our behalf and are to be congratulated. The spring seems almost upon us and the grass is certainly growing. The club’s new rough cutter had its first outing recently. 

The course has held up wonderfully well through a most trying winter. This is not only down to the excellent work by Martin and his team, but to the investment we’ve made in drainage in recent years.

With some of our competitors closed for weeks at a time, several new members have cited the good condition of the course as their reason for joining.

Alan Pountney
Chair of Green

A narrow win over Brookmans Park in our final match by just 11 IMPs ensured that our men’s bridge team remained unbeaten throughout the season, reports organiser David Helliwell.  We played Brookmans Park, Verulam and Hadley Wood, each club home and away, and won all six matches.

Unusually this season we gave a game not only to the top 12 players but chose from a squad of 18, which may have accounted for some of the closer results.

The ladies’ A team also fared well, reports Liz Copley, winning 12 and losing only two of the 14 matches played. The C team recorded a creditable seven wins and three losses out of ten matches, while the B team struggled somewhat but nonetheless managed some very close results which augur well for the future.

The winter league format was changed to Chicago scoring this season, with 20 deals or a maximum of three hours’ play. The results of all three divisions will be announced after March 31, when all matches should be completed.

Diana Barry continues to run duplicate bridge (ladies’ and men’s) on the first Thursday in the month. New pairs are always welcome at these very enjoyable evenings and we recommend that you come and join us. 

There is friendly bridge, 12.30pm - 2.30pm on Fridays, with help for beginners and improvers from experienced volunteers.

For more information, please contact Liz Copley on 01923 856330.

The Captain is pleased to welcome as playing members Edward Page, Paul Buck, David Izen, Edmund Coan, Simon Peck and Mrs Leslie Rose.

The club regrets to record the death of social member John Callam.

As some of you may be aware, I am hoping to climb Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in August this year, writes Simon Roland. My aim is to raise money for Bridge2Aid, a charity that provides much needed dental treatment for disadvantaged Tanzanian children.

Kili is 20,000ft and we expect the arduous and challenging trek to the summit and back to take six days. As well as raising as much money as I can for the cause, I hope to discover my own peak levels of determination, stamina and suffering - much like anyone who has played golf with me in recent years, not to mention my patients!

Any contributions you might care to make would be so very welcome and can be done easily via the website www.justgiving.com/simonroland or to my home address, 9 Gills Hill Road, Radlett WD7 8DE.

I would just add that I am funding all my own costs and the initial contribution to the charity, so all donations go entirely to the cause.

Thank you very much for your support.

Jayendra Patel and Vashist Amin who won the winter greensomes with 42pts from Shaun Reddin and Neil O’Donnell with 41.

David Talbot and Robert Davis who won the fourball qualifier for the Crameri Trophy with 41pts. John Cole and Barry Dytham also qualified with 40pts for the knock-out matchplay stage of this Herts inter-club competition.

Justin Saunders who won the March midweek stableford with 35pts from Michael Paterson with 31.

Norman Mitchell who won the March stableford (0-12) with 40pts, beating Mike Mealey on back 9. Alan Ring won Div II with 37pts, beating Charles Hayes on back 9.

Rena Delaney who won the Copley Cup with 53pts from Jenny Chan with 52.

Jacob Harris who won the February junior stableford with 41pts from George Day with 36.

Mark Gibson who won the March junior stableford with 38pts from Ruari Cassidy with 37.